Those were words that Dante wanted to hear. This was the first time that Pauwna did not have an answer for him. It made him feel uneasy. This war has been going on, as he understood, for many years and no one had seen anything like this?

  Surprises were always bad in war.

  “It’s hard to tell at this distance, but those are not clouds.” Pauwna continued, “It's more like hail or a swarm. Whatever it’s made up of, they are smaller than my fist.”

  Given that the purple haze covered the entire horizon, there must be millions of something approaching. On the bright side, they were too small to be Ahsmati. They feld at the sight of this anyway. Perhaps they were some kind of local locust? When he posed that question to Pauwna, she shook her head.

  “Crop-eating insects? We have such creatures in the Empire, but why would they be here?” Pauwna gestured to the muddy wasteland around them and then the dead, white fields behind the earthen wall. “Besides, none of the pests I know of are purple.”

  Dante shuffled uncomfortably. In the short time they had been talking, the purple haze had grown from a distant aberration to a solid dust storm-like wall fast approaching. Others had started to notice, pointing and talking in hushed tones, but no alarm had been raised yet. This felt wrong, like he was the only one seeing the signs of a tsunami before it struck.

  “Perhaps we should tell them?” Dante gestured with his chin at Ahzi and her subordinates, who were still arguing amongst themselves. At the moment, the male warrior had taken his helmet off and seemed to be scolding an openly scornful Ahzi. Dante recognized him from the healer's tent, he thought his name was Moeris?

  “Let’s not. The less we interact with royals, the better. Besides, I am sure they will notice soon enough anyways.”

  Dante could not say he disagreed. The one time he had met the princess had seen him end up here. However, if he did nothing then people, him included, might be put at risk. It would be easy to speak up. She was right there, floating a few feet beyond the edge of the yurts' rooftop. He took a few steps towards them

  “Dante, what are you doing?”

  She reached a hand to stop him but hesitated when she saw his determination. By then, he was already out of reach.

  “I hope you know what you are doing.”

  Dante also hoped he knew what he was doing.

  “Ah, First Princess Ahzi?”

  Conversation ceased and all three of them gazed at him with varying levels of hostility. Dante shriveled back but it was too late to stop. Bowing, he made sure not to take his eyes off the princess and hoped that he had paid enough respect. He had not the slightest idea of the proper way to address her. This was the first solid look he had gotten at her that was not blocked by distance or the fan she liked to carry.

  She looked … hard. This was a person who was used to spending lives like currency. That was not to say that she wasn’t beautiful, but permanent frown lines had been etched into her face, giving her a resting glare. Ahzi had black hair and golden eyes, the same color as her armor. She was very tall and he began to wonder if that was a side effect of being high leveled. The look she gave him was calculating and he thought a faint glimmer of recognition ran through them. Dante needed to step carefully here. He cleared his throat, finding it suddenly dry.

  “Excuse me, but I just wanted to bring to your attention that.”

  Dante didn’t want to move from his bowed position, so he gestured with his chin. Dante didn’t see Ahzi look, but her brow furrowed and lips pursed. She gestured with one hand and said: “ Siluv, if you would?”

  The storm mage, Siluv apparently, lifted off with a gust and shot towards the disturbance. Dante supposed that counted as a mission success, though he now found himself under the princess's scrutiny. It was a rather uncomfortable situation, all things considered, and he wished she would dismiss him already.

  “So, you can speak our language now?”

  This was not good. Dante had hoped that she would have forgotten. She had to see hundreds of more important people than him after all, so why remember him? He could pretend ignorance, but Dante had always been a terrible liar. He would just have to be polite and hope for her disinterest.

  “I can. Well, the basics at least. I have gotten a lot of practice over the last month.”

  Ahzi tapped her weapon against her leg and he realized that it was a giant fan. What was it with her and fans? Had she seriously fought the dragon with that thing?

  “Impressive. Then I suppose you can tell how you arrived at my lands?”

  There it was. They had already gone into dangerous territory. Dante did not think he could lie to her. Every one of her words had a weight to it that he was beginning to recognize as the influence of charisma. He did not doubt either that she had other ways of making him talk if he refused to answer. That ability she used to change the laws of reality could just as easily be used on him. On the other hand, she would think he was crazy if he told the full truth. This was going to be a delicate balance.

  “Truthfully, Ahzi, I — ”

  “You will address the First Princess by her title, or you shall continue to answer her decrees from under my boot!” This came from Moeris, who seemed quite eager to act on that promise. If Dante remembered correctly, the man had similarly not been a fan of him back then either. Though this time, Ahzi made no move to hold him back, so likely it was a genuine threat.

  Dante bowed deeper, now completely horizontal.

  “My deepest apologies, First Princess. I have no idea how I ended up in this country. I was transported here unexpectedly and against my will.”

  “And where do you hail from?”

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  “My home is exceptionally far away, I had not even heard of your Empire before coming here. It is called America.”

  All truths so far and the First Princess seemed to know this, given that she didn’t dispute his claims. She considered all he had told her thoughtfully while Dante was stuck in his bow that he didn’t dare rise from. Ahzi was about to ask another question when her other attendant, Siluv, appeared beside her.

  They were all taken aback by her appearance. While she had hardly been in pristine form before, she had been thrown through a hill earlier after all, she was in tatters now. Her armor had several grievous rents which extended deep into the flesh below. Dante thought he could see organs at some points and was stunned that she was still moving. What had captured their attention, however, was the damage itself. Rather than being neat slashes or bruising, it almost appeared like the armor and cloth had been scrambled together with the flesh. He was reminded of the magic disaster that the Huntress had caused earlier.

  “Princess, I advise that we sound the retreat immediately,” Syluv said between laborious breaths. While the statement had been phrased passively, the eunication was anything but. Ahzi eyed her injuries for but a moment before she turned to Moeris.

  “See it done.”

  Moeris donned his helmet, then jumped to the ground below, already bellowing orders to the press assembled before him. The celebration died out and people quickly got to moving. Far too slowly, by his measure. The purple haze had nearly arrived and with it came an incessant … humming? It sounded like an orchestra of tuning forks. Also, the ozone smell had grown stronger.

  Ahzi rummaged through her bag at speeds barely perceptable to him and poured a potion over Siluv. Her injuries began mending, foreign material was ejected and fell to the ground with a clatter and flesh filled it. Dante began inching backwards, rightfully eager to be on his way.

  “Do not think this conversion is over, foreigner. Make sure you live until we can continue it. You too, Naula, the crown does not forget a debt. Dismissed.”

  With that more formal approval, Dante hurried over to Pauwna, who looked a little white from that encounter. On the way, he caught a few last words from Siluv.

  “Ahzi, I don’t quite know what I saw. They were something else entirely. Otherworldly really. It was — ”

  Anything else was cut off by a gust of wind as the pair presumably took off. Dante didn’t have time to eavesdrop anyway. Pauwna looked anxious, pacing from side to side while Ren was still kneeling — for some godforsaken reason. At least they looked less exhausted than a few minutes ago. The endurance attribute really was a cheat. Dante pulled Ren to her feet.

  “We need to go now. Pauwna if you would — ” She was already shaking her head.

  “Won’t work. Even by myself, I couldn’t outrun that thing. Much less with the pair of you.”

  Glancing back, Dante saw that she was right. The purple swarm was close enough that even he could see small bits moving about erratically. They only had around a minute before it got here. Perhaps less.

  “In that case, we can only do a fighting retreat. It’s better than staying here and facing that alone.”

  Ren nodded. “My magic is good against many foes. I will clear us a path.”

  Pauwna looked like she wanted to object but sighed, turned around, and leaned forward. “Get on then. It’s a good a plan as any. Seems like my part is to be a steed.”

  It was fortunate that neither he nor Ren were large people, as even at their current size it was difficult to stay on Pauwna’s shoulders. She set out at a sprint, though one far less than her usual max speed. It was a far more comfortable ride than when Svōl had carried him at least, he would give Pauwna that. From this position, he had a perfect view of the purple swarm.

  Swarm was perhaps a more apt title than he had originally realized. The cloud was made up of individual beings about the same size of a hummingbird. They were still too far away to make out much detail, even when he charged [Overloaded Senses], but he could tell they were triangular and were a lusterous purple. Curiously, he saw no wings, though certain parts of their bodies were blurry.

  “Why aren’t you attacking?” He shouted to Ren, who gave a derisive look.

  “Why would I? Do I look like I am made out of infinite mana? My magic is intense enough as is and I am already low.”

  Ah, right, mana. Never had to worry about that before. And likely never will again.

  To be fair, it wasn’t like Dante could do anything proactive either. The only thing that he could do was shape his aura behind them. Despite his best effort, he could only shift about a third of it. Anything more would just slip through his control.

  In the distance, he saw a flash of light and a wall of white fire ignited behind them. Three figures faced the swarm, killing them by then tens of thousands. The First Princess, Syluv, and Moeris fought valiantly and unleashing violent storms and empowered sword strikes. However, there were uncountable millions of the mysterious creatures. While the spells shoved back the tide, they were quickly replaced by their neighbors and it seemed like their overall numbers were undiminished. At least it did buy them and the rest of the army time.

  They made it to the massive earthen wall and began climbing. Their forward progress became painfully slow. The dirt had been churned twice over by an entire army and devolved from damp earth to a bog. Pauwna sank well to her thighs and every step was a struggle.

  Despite the constant bombardment from the high ranks, they could only cover so much area. On either side of their battle, the swarm continued unimpeded and began to wrap around. They found themselves in a peninsula of calm, framed on all sides by waves of death.

  Which were rapidly getting closer.

  The area got noticeably darker as Ahzi ceased casting her ghostly fire about and fled with her attendants. The high ranks easily outpaced them, stuck as they still were on the earthen wall, and flew out of sight. Now unchecked, the swarm fell upon them.

  Ren got one laser off before they hit, swinging it in a wide arc that didn’t even buy a moment. The swarm crashed against his barrier and Dante felt like a truck had hit him again. The cumulative weight of the multitudes pressed down on him, halting their forward progress and dragging all of them back down the slope.

  Pauwna managed to keep her grip on him, but Ren was another matter. She flipped off her shoulder and strayed outside the protection of his field with a shriek. Ren was outside for just a moment but was red with blood and insensate when Pauwna dragged her back in. They slowed as Pauwna managed to dig in her feet, but the torn-up slope did not offer enough leverage to cease their descent. They hit the bottom moments later and Dante was sure he would have drowned in the mud had Pauwna not held him out of it.

  Dante was being crushed alive. Every inch of his body was being compressed from all sides. Every breath was an active fight and whatever air that did make it in was heavy with ozone. His vision swam and his grip on reality slackened. Thinking quickly, he used all of his charges that were not [Overloaded Warding Flesh]. Strength reentered his body as [Rising Tide] boosted all of his attributes and he was able to take a full, shuddering breath. The mental fog cleared a little and he realized someone was yelling.

  “ — stay awake! Don’t you go dying on me! Not after all of this!”

  Conjuring the rest of his energy, he gasped out: “Too. Many. Enemies”

  “I understand Dante, just hold on!”

  Dante was dimly aware of being carried, then the charges ended and his strength fled. He was delirious, fading in out. Whenever his charges were off cooldown, he would use them to gain a few seconds respite. If not for that, he was confident that he would have suffocated long ago. It was miserable. He was essentially suffocating full time.

  His world shrank to the red, shifting tides of the swarm around him and the steady breathing of Pauwna, which was a great comfort to him. It was a reminder that he was not alone. That he was suffering for a purpose.